Hey, I'm back with an all-new story! Tartarus Laboratories! Yes, I know the Brave Little Toaster to the Rescue had one of these, but this is not the same labs...I think...well, the idea behind them is more or less the same, now that I think about it.
Anyway, enjoy the new prologue, which took me a long time to get up and going. The Artemis part was giving me trouble, that's why it took a while to post after I told you about this in The Keys.
I own nothing you recognize as canon.
To understand this story a little better, here are some things to understand:
1) Gaea, Giants, and Titans are humans. No monsters.
2) Canine leaders are main Greeks—Piper, Annabeth, Will, Nico, and Percy—Feline leaders are main Romans—Jason, Frank, Hazel, Octavian, and Reyna. Hyenas are the family of Hephaestus—Hephaestus himself, Nyssa, Jake, Harley, Leo (funny, isn't it?) and Esperanza, along with unnamed members. The rest of the members of the groups are a mix of Greek and Romans.
3) Canon pairings featured: Percabeth, Caleo, Frazel, Jasper, Charlena , Solangelo and Chrisse.
4) Gods do not exist, but are elders in the groups. Artemis, being the leader of the wild dogs/Hunters, is the only exception. Various aspects are also not a thing. Zeus will be known as Jupiter, Hades is not the father of Hazel (in this story it isn't possible).
5) Canon deaths are not so here. For example: Beckandorf (Charles in this story), Silena, Marie, Emily, and Esperanza will be living.
6) Main Mortals in PJO/HoO are in the groups here. Sally, Paul, and Rachel are prime examples.
7) Throw biology out the window or else you won't enjoy this story. Lions can mate with foxes, but there will be no children. Normally solitary animals—such as leopards and jaguars—will be social animals now. Hyena ranking will be slightly more relaxed, seeing as Leo will be pretty high up in the family. If you see something that doesn't normally happen in nature, don't point it out and say it's wrong. Because, chances are, I know it's wrong and meant for it to be that way. I do research on my topics (as many of you know), but have changed many natural things to make this story work, so give this a chance.
Okay, I think that covers the basics. If you have questions, feel free to ask and I'll include the answers (that won't spoil) in the next author's notes.
Prologue
"What have you observed?" asked a shadowy, tall woman.
A dark figure whirled around in his chair, peeling his tired eyes away from the screens. "The Reserve has some fantastic potential. The packs have very high intelligence, and have a different set of ranks than normal wolves or coyotes. Almost human in ranks, where they work for what they get, and not born to get it. The foxes show similar standings, as do the dingoes and jackals."
"And the cats?"
"The lions have a few prides, but seem to revolve around one single unit. The males stay within the prides, going in between, as do the females. Almost none of them have gone to create new prides, or even leave the Reserve. They have fantastic family units and are loyal."
"What about the other cat species?"
"It seems the other families have broken from normal tradition as well. The jaguars, leopards, cheetahs, and tigers seem to have shaped pride-like groups of their own. It is strange to see such behavior, but stranger still to see that recently the jaguars and tigers seemed to have combined their territories. Our observation shows that the two leaders of the main groupings have possibly mated."
"Like the wolf and coyote main pack leaders about a year before?"
"Exactly."
"Interesting." The woman held up a clipboard and began writing down notes. "Are any of the other animals exhibiting such behavior?"
"None that we can see," answered the man. "The herds of prey are normal, unchanged. Only the aforementioned groups seemed to have evolved this way of thinking. On occasion, the leaders of the main prides, packs, etc. have met in the middle of the Reserve. It's only happened when conflict begins among the various groups."
"So they are acting like their own United Nations?"
"Yes."
"Amazing." She wrote down more notes. "And what about the edge of the Reserve? What about the cackles of hyenas? The packs of wild dogs?"
"They seem to have a main group as well. The hyenas have an established territory, with the main cackle near the ravine that borders the jaguar, fox, dingo, and leopard territories. They don't associate with the others at all. If the hyenas stray from the territory they are instantly killed, mostly shown by leopards.
"The wild dogs seem to have no territory. They wander everywhere—except into hyena lands. Some other animals have been seen joining their main pack. We've observed a lion, jackal, jaguar, and a fox within the pack. There could be more."
More notes. Finally, the woman looked at him. "We need to do some experiments."
"Finally," the man said. "I bet Kronos is just itching to cut some of these animals up."
"Atlas is getting uncomfortable, just using the Northern animals," she said. "It's time to capture some of these."
"And, if I may ask, how will we do that? The Reserve doesn't allow hunting. Humans aren't allowed anywhere."
"Says the man who established cameras all over the Reserve."
He smiled.
"Orion will always be my favorite choice," she said. "He's the best hunter we have. He'll get in there and find us some good specimens."
She began to leave. The man turned back to the screens, sipping his coffee.
"Good work, Enceladus," she said before closing the door to his office.
Enceladus smirked. "Thanks for the praise," he whispered. "Mother."
Artemis, the Wild Dog leader, raised her head and sniffed. It was the dead of night. Her pack was sleeping, as was most every other animal. So, why did she sense something was up?
Artemis shuffled around her pack, dodging the larger forms of her lieutenant and senior Hunters. The Hunters had joined her pack a while ago. Animals ranging from lions to jackals had joined up. Her pack didn't mind, considering they roamed freely without boundaries. The lion was a little intimidating at first, but she soon got the Hunters and pack to warm up to her. It was funny that the Hunters were all females at first, so Artemis soon made it a rule for them to only be females—and never to mate with any among her pack.
Her lieutenant, Thalia, raised her head. "Something up?" she asked.
Artemis shook her head. "Nothing to be concerned about. I'm going to go on a patrol. You're in charge while I'm gone."
The lioness nodded and lowered her head, falling asleep again.
Artemis shot off into the night, heading towards the Dingo territory. She had no idea why, but her weird feelings were drawing her to the Dingoes. Perhaps she would ask Will, the Dingo leader, if anything was wrong.
Something isn't right, she thought to herself, streaking through the plains like a dark comet. If Will does not feel it, then his father Apollo will. Apollo can always sense things more than I.
A howl split the air. Artemis knew that howl.
Will!
She ran towards the sound, her fur beginning to prickle. That howl was not a usual call. It was not for hunting or leading—it was a fear-filled howl.
Artemis paused, panting, trying to get a grip on her bearings. She was at the edge of the Ravine, which served as a natural border between the dingoes and foxes. Where was Will? What was he doing here so late at night?
Suddenly, a light illuminated the night, a bright circle landing on Artemis.
"Well," sneered a calm male's voice. "What have we here? A wild dog out on patrol?"
Artemis snarled as a human man's shadow stood next to a cage. Inside was the broken form of a dingo. "Will," she called. "Will, are you alright?"
Will's tail twitched and he raised his head. "Run," he rasped.
Artemis snarled again. She did not run from fights. As leader of the Hunters, she could not show fear of humans. She growled, "Let him go!"
"Aw," the man cooed. "Are you trying to say something? I don't speak mutt." He cocked a pipe-like sort of thing. "You're pretty, though. Maybe I can get your fur for a jacket or a hat."
The leader of the wild dogs lunged forward right as a muted bang echoed. A tiny dart landed in the dirt behind her. Artemis sneered. What kind of weapon is that? That can't possibly bring me down!
The man reloaded instantly and cocked his weapon, but Artemis was upon him. He shot again, this time a dart landing in her chest fur. As it hit, she clawed and scraped at his head, bringing him down. He screamed when she got his face.
The world began to slow down and get blurry. Her movements were getting slower.
As she paused to shake the slowness, a rope entwined around her neck. It pulled her off the man and sent her sprawling to the ground.
The man hastily got up, his hands on his face. "Deal with this mutt," he screamed through his hands. "I need to clean up!"
"Where do we put her, Orion?" came another human voice.
The man—Orion—waved it off. "The smallest cage she can fit in. Gah," he spat. "Stupid dog nearly blinded me! Give her the worst treatment before she has to see Kronos or Atlas."
Artemis felt her body being dragged into a tiny cage, her limbs barley fitting within the bars. Deep darkness edged her vision. Everything was numb.
Before she completely passed out, she locked eyes with Will, whose cage had at some point been placed next to her own. He shook his head. "I told you to run…"
Her head dropped, and she fell unconscious.
A/N: Interesting, yes? Like what I did there with Orion? :3
Leo's coming up in the next chapter, don't worry :D